'Natives' by 23rd Key

'Natives' by 23rd Key

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Jess began her foray into stencil art in 2005, first exhibiting her work in 2008, and has spent most of her time toiling over a table ever since. Under the pseudonym 23rd Key, she creates photo-realistic stencils, taking no short cuts and cutting everything by hand. With a background in printmaking, graphic design, audio engineering and currently studying Architecture, she brings the knowledge from each of these into her already photo-realistic style.

She hand carves each doily-like layer, and this attention to detail has become a trademark of her work, winning her the Australian Stencil Art Prize in 2011 and world Stencil Art Prize in 2014. The nation’s highest accolade for stencil art was only fitting for an artist who is at the forefront of her medium. Working with only 9 layers or fewer on any one piece, she doesn’t believe it’s the number of layers a stencil has that lends to her stunningly photo realistic images, but the amount of detail cut into each individual layer. Breaking ground in her medium, she is one of the few stencil artists to incorporate 3D and free hand elements into her works. 23rd Key excels in breaking the rules of the stencil medium and approaching it in a way none of her peers have before.